American capitalism has a hate-love relationship with the nation’s schools. On the “hate” side is a stream of complaints from business leaders and organizations about the many students, particularly in city schools, who fail achievement tests, are high school dropouts or, if they complete high school, do not have the academic qualifications for college and advanced-skills education. Given these educational failings, they ask, how will the nation’s economic system obtain the workforce needed for … [Read more...]
Gerald Coles is an educational psychologist who has written extensively on literacy and learning disabilities. He is the author of Reading Lessons: The Debate Over Literacy, and The Learning Mystique: A Critical Look at "Learning Disabilities," as well as numerous articles in educational and psychology journals. He can be reached at gcwriting [at] fastmail.com